frax

Posted 07 November 2012 - 03:17 AM

My trusty trackball is about to give in, and I am in the market for a new pointing device. I think I'll give trackballs, which I have used for the last 12 years on my main workstation and just buy a mouse this time.

Any tips for a good device? I am bit interested in some of these gamer-oriented mice that have settings where one can toggle resolution/sensitivity (dpi) and more buttons than an ordinary mouse.

Ergonomics are reasonably important + reliability. Configurability is a high priority. Wireless would be nice, but I have no big problem with a cable - the mouse would just be in one place anyways.

a0r

Posted 07 November 2012 - 10:17 AM

a0r

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I recently started using the Handshoe Mouse and, while it's not flashy, it works - it has helped some recurring wrist issues greatly. It positions your hand in a more natural way, and you end up using more of your arm muscles to mouse instead of some of the smaller hand muscles.

Having said that, it's not great at fine detail work. If I have do significant amounts of digitizing or photo editing etc., I'll switch back over to my regular mouse (Logitech Performance MX). No big deal for me, but could be problematic for some folks. The Logitech mouse works fine, but as I said I have had recurring wrist issues and that mouse didn't help.

However! I would be interested if anybody has had any experience using a SpaceMouse...? That was another option I was looking at - I'm still tempted, but they are quite pricey. Seems like a pretty slick mouse... I'm curious if anybody has used one or heard first-hand accounts....?

Gretchen Peterson

Posted 07 November 2012 - 01:40 PM

At the mapping workshop I taught a few weeks ago, we had a demo of Google Liquid Galaxy. The student who was operating the demo had a mouse designed for 3D work, which I've always thought would be great for digitizing. (However, I haven't personally used one.) Here's one and here's one.

david17tym

Posted 09 November 2012 - 03:45 AM

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I switched to working with a Logitech Performance MX (plus a DiNovo Edge keyboard) when I started to feel the strain a couple of years back, and they're much more comfortable. The Edge comes with a mini trackpad too which I find useful.
Dave

Matthew Hampton

Posted 09 November 2012 - 02:52 PM

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I switched to a wireless trackpad a little over a year ago and really enjoy it. I find it rewarding to use my finger as a pointing device as it seems like a more intuitive process and allows for a variety of gestured inputs.

a0r

Posted 09 November 2012 - 05:06 PM

a0r

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I switched to a wireless trackpad a little over a year ago and really enjoy it. I find it rewarding to use my finger as a pointing device as it seems like a more intuitive process and allows for a variety of gestured inputs.

woneil

Posted 11 November 2012 - 04:04 PM

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The first computers I ever worked with (hand-built academic prototype machines before the era of commercial computing) had no user input of any kind except IBM card readers to load code. The first user-input devices I dealt with were on military systems in the late 1950s and early 1960s and included both trackballs (developed for the U.S. Navy) and stylus-on-screen (for the Air Force). It took me no more than a few hours of use to recognize that the trackball was superior from an ergonomic standpoint.

The mouse of course did not come into the picture for another 20 years, as a compromise between ergonomics and economics. I used one for a few years but gradually became aware that it was putting a subtle but definite strain on my arm – not only my wrist but my shoulder. Recalling my early experience, I searched for trackball devices, and switched to them, long before they became at all common.

At various points, I have had occasion to make use of systems that had only a mouse, but have always felt the strain returning. At home I have used a Kensington "Expert Mouse" (which is actually a trackball) for years. I'm pretty sure I would have had serious problems by now with a mouse, but find that the trackball serves me well.